''Christ Crucified'' is a 1632 painting by

Diego Velázquez Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (baptized June 6, 1599August 6, 1660) was a Spanish painter, the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV of Spain and Portugal, and of the Spanish Golden Age. He was an individualistic artist of th ...

depicting the

Crucifixion of Jesus The crucifixion and death of Jesus occurred in 1st-century Judea, most likely in AD 30 or AD 33. It is described in the four canonical gospels, referred to in the New Testament epistles, attested to by other ancient sources, and consid ...

. The work, painted in

oil on canvas Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments with a medium of drying oil as the binder. It has been the most common technique for artistic painting on wood panel or canvas for several centuries, spreading from Europe to the rest of ...

, measures 249 × 170 cm and is owned by the

Museo del Prado The Prado Museum ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It is widely considered to house one of the world's finest collections of European art, dating from the ...

. During his stay in Rome, Velázquez made various nude studies he used in later paintings, such as '' Apollo at the Forge of Vulcan'' (1630) and ''

Joseph's Tunic ''Joseph's Tunic'' is a 1630 painting by Diego Velázquez, now held in the museum of the Sacristía Mayor del Monasterio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial (Madrid, Spain). It was painted in the house of the Spanish ambassador in Rome and brought ba ...

'' (1630). Art critics assert that the nude study for this painting is exceptional and masterly in its fusion of serenity, dignity and nobility. It is a life-size frontal nude, without the support of a narrative scene.

Description

Velázquez followed the accepted iconography in the 17th century. His master,

Francisco Pacheco Francisco Pacheco del Río (bap. 3 November 1564 – 27 November 1644) was a Spanish painter, best known as the teacher and father-in-law of Diego Velázquez and Alonzo Cano, and for his textbook on painting, entitled ''Art of Painting'', ...

, a big supporter of classicist painting, painted the crucified Christ using the same iconography later adopted by Velázquez: four nails, feet together and supported against a little wooden brace, in a classic

contrapposto ''Contrapposto'' () is an Italian term that means "counterpoise". It is used in the visual arts to describe a human figure standing with most of its weight on one foot, so that its shoulders and arms twist off-axis from the hips and legs in the a ...

posture. Both arms draw a subtle curve, instead of forming a triangle. The loincloth is painted rather small, thus showing the nude body as much as possible. The head shows a narrow halo, as if it came from the figure itself; the face is resting on the chest, showing just enough of his features. The long, straight hair covers a great part of the face, perhaps foreshadowing the death, already inflicted as shown by the wound on the right side. It lacks the characteristic dramatic qualities of

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

painting.

History

Because of lack of information, the date of the painting is unknown. Nevertheless, historians believe the work was made after Velázquez' return from

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, probably between 1631 and 1632. The influence of Classicist painting is shown by the calm posture of the body, the idealized face and the leaning head. On the other hand, the influence of

Caravaggism The Caravaggisti (or the "Caravagesques") were stylistic followers of the late 16th-century Italian Baroque painter Caravaggio. His influence on the new Baroque style that eventually emerged from Mannerism was profound. Caravaggio never establishe ...

can be seen in the strong

chiaroscuro Chiaroscuro ( , ; ), in art, is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for the use of contrasts of light to achi ...

between the background and the body, and in the strong, artificial lightning over the

cross A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two intersecting lines or bars, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of the Latin letter X, is termed a sa ...

. It was most likely a commission for the San Plácido Convent sacristy. The painting was among the impounded items of

Manuel Godoy Manuel Godoy y Álvarez de Faria, Prince of the Peace, 1st Duke of Alcudia, 1st Duke of Sueca, 1st Baron of Mascalbó (12 May 17674 October 1851) was First Secretary of State of Spain from 1792 to 1797 and from 1801 to 1808. He received many t ...

, but was returned to

María Teresa de Borbón, 15th Countess of Chinchón María Teresa de Borbón y Vallabriga, 15th Countess of Chinchón (María Teresa Carolina; 6 March 1779some say 26 January 1780 – 23 November 1828), was a Spanish noblewoman and grandee. She was a patrilineal granddaughter of Philip V of Spain ...

. After her death, the painting was passed on to her brother-in-law, the Duke of San Fernando de Quiroga, who gave it to King

Fernando VII , house = Bourbon-Anjou , father = Charles IV of Spain , mother = Maria Luisa of Parma , birth_date = 14 October 1784 , birth_place = El Escorial, Spain , death_date = , death_place = Madrid, Spain , burial_pla ...

. The king then sent the painting to the

Legacy

The spirituality and mystery of this painting have inspired much religious writing, notably the poem ''El Cristo de Velázquez'' by the Spanish writer and philosopher

Miguel de Unamuno Miguel de Unamuno y Jugo (29 September 1864 – 31 December 1936) was a Spanish essayist, novelist, poet, playwright, philosopher, professor of Greek and Classics, and later rector at the University of Salamanca. His major philosophical essay w ...

Bibliography

* Historia general del arte, Tomo XIII, colección Summa Artis, ''La pintura española del siglo XVII''. Author, José Camón Aznar. Editorial Espasa Calpe S.A. Madrid 1977 * ''La pintura en el barroco'' José Luis Morales y Marín Espasa Calpe S.A. 1998 * ''Museo del Prado. Pintura española de los siglos XVI y XVII'' Enrique Lafuente Ferrari Aguilar S.A. 1964 * Cirlot, L. (dir.), ''Museo del Prado II'', Col. «Museos del Mundo», Tomo 7, Espasa, 2007.

External links

''Velázquez ''
exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on ''Christ Crucified'' (see index) {{DEFAULTSORT:Christ Crucified (Velazquez) 1632 paintings Paintings by Diego Velázquez in the Museo del Prado Religious paintings by Diego Velázquez Crucifixion of Jesus in art